The Practice of Embodiment

“To discover the Body-Mind continuum and develop Embodiment, we must DISEMBODY our conceptual physical form and conceptual material existence. Only then can we realize that this very body is the Dharma Body, the Dharmakaya, The Whole Enchillada.”
Roshi Paul Genki Kahn

“This is perhaps the most refined and wonderful aspect of the yoga tradition — that through our own body we learn to understand the universe. We do this by slowing everything down, as if saying, ‘Wait a minute, we are going to look with fresh eyes and listen with opened ears and a renewed awareness in all of our senses at this mystery of life that is presenting itself through, within, and as the body.’ In this way we can temporarily suspend all judgements and conclusions about the body. Again and again, with fresh eyes, we closely examine all of our theories and patterns of experiencing what we know as the body. In this suspension we are supported by the mystery of the underlying and ultimately unknowable matrix of open intelligence. Our feelings, thoughts, sensations, and emotions reveal the interconnectedness of immediate experience with the whole world of underlying patterns.This process of realization happens spontaneously when we allow ourselves to fully perceive whatever we are experiencing in the moment, without becoming attached to the perception, and at the same time, without rejecting it…We learn to become aware of our deep perceptions as both vital and real, but more important, we recognize that our own forms of perceptions are the gateway into the matrix that intimately connects us to everything else.”
Richard Freeman, THE MIRROR OF YOGA: Awakening the Intelligence of Body and Mind

While meditation is a physical and mental discipline, we emphasize the need for Embodiment Practices, one of our 6 Core Practices, as a developmental physical approach to awakening or enlightenment, part of our holistic approach to spiritual practice. Embodiment Practices include such disciplines as yoga, Tai-chi, Chi-gung, Aikido, Gung-fu, and specialized forms of dance and movement.